Rating: 
Summary: Changed me
Review: I will never look at the Mid East conflict the same way again after watching this film. It's something I always wanted and never had, to look inside at the Palestinian's world. And this film gave me that chance. Can't recommend it more highly.
Rating:
Summary: great document -- shows hidden reality
Review: This film is unfortunately still up-to-date in many ways.
As documented in this film, the Israeli military is still knocking down civilian homes in Gaza. Still shooting children armed only with rocks, if at all. Israel is still choking Palestinians with blockades inside their territory.Also, there are things in this film that weren't given much press in the West. Like Israel using convulsant gas on Palestinians in a refugee camp, for example. This incident is documented with a fair amount of detail and interviews with lots of people, including Doctors Without Borders. You won't have seen much about that in the New York Times, although the BBC reported it, briefly. More than being a down-to-earth document of all these things and more, though, this film is a string of personal narratives, almost stream-of-conciousness. The stories here are personal stories wrapped in larger events. This documentary is hard-hitting and real. This is good, even great documentary filmmaking with a compassionate and human touch. We need more films like this!
Rating:
Summary: Finally, an honest movie
Review: Finally I'm not watching some CBS special report on Hamas or Islamic Jihad or whatever that gives you the picture of all Palestinians as terrorists. This is a film for the rest, the big majority, the regular Palestinians. Not a generalized movie -- this documentary is really personal, shows life very up-close. There is no narrator in the back telling you what to think. All the words come from the mouths of Palestinians in Gaza. There is also an alt. audio track with the director talking about making the movie, which is good. Really needed a film like this, especially right now, to remind me about the real faces of people behind all those concrete barriers and electric barb-wire fences and media crap surrounding the Gaza Strip. Strong stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Pure Documentary Labeled as "Propaganda"
Review: Instead of keeping the lid of silence on Palestinian civilian voices from the Gaza Strip, this film lets their side of the story be heard. For once we get to have a look inside Gaza at what Palestinian men, women, and children endure under Israeli military occupation. This film is not just another piece of mindless Fox News pap that covers over the real human catastrophe caused by Israel's 35-year policy of military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. In this documentary, we actually get to see unfiltered reality of life under occupation instead of faceless propaganda from pro-occupation TV pundits and appologists for Israel's violations of international law and UN resolutions. Because it provides a rare and insightful view of this conflict, this documentary continues to be shown by student groups at all the top colleges and universities in the United States. About "Propaganda" -- Let's review!
Propaganda is: "Any organization or plan for spreading a particular doctrine or a system of principles." - Websters This documentary doesn't fit that description. This film shows a raw and varied picture of Palestinians -- it's not 100% complimentary, it shows lots of different people with very different views. It may be bleak, it may be hard to swallow, but this documentary looks a lot more like a reflection of real hardship and bitter life than a "doctrine" or "system of principles." Now, real "propaganda" is when you define all Palestinians as "terrorists" and all Israelis as "innocent." Real "propaganda" is when civilian refugee camps are defined as "havens ... for terrorism" and "training grounds." Real "propaganda" is when a film that shows the actual suffering of civilians is defined as "anti-semitic" as long as their suffering happens at the hands of Israelis. That is real "doctrine," and a real "system of principles" that is, in fact, aimed at excusing an illegal occupation and Israeli state terrorism against Palestinians. And "Propaganda" is when you tell students what information they can and can't see for their own education. That's "propaganda" -- so let's get it straight and not conveniently forget what words mean.
Rating: 
Summary: Pure Propaganda called Documentary
Review: Instead of providing a realistic understanding of how the Arab world encouraged Gaza to become a haven and training ground for terrorism, this film is merely twisted propaganda that justifies continuing terrorism against innocent Israeli civilians. It is just another vehicle to promote hatred, prejudice and anti-semitism. This film should not be shown to students of any age.
Rating:
Summary: uncomfortable truths
Review: OK -- first I'll say that this film was hard for me to watch. I didn't like watching it. There are things in this film that upset me a lot. There are things that go against everything I thought I knew about Israelis and Palestinians. I support Israel, free and democratic. I don't support the occupation of Palestinian land or Israeli settlements in WB/Gaza, and this film underlined for me why I shouldn't. Right now there are 100,000 pro-settler demonstrators in Tel Aviv saying they won't get off Palestinian land, that the land is theirs. But it isn't theirs, and God is not a property broker. The occupation has got to end if there is going to be peace. This film is a dramatic illustration of why that is true. As you can see in this film, every new generation of Palestinians that grows up under Israeli occupation is a generation that hates Israel, and not for nothing. Let's stop giving the Palestinians such good reasons to dislike us! Let's let them live, too!
Rating:
Summary: Not Fox News ...
Review: ... And I for one am very thankful that this documentary takes the time to show some detail on the Palestinian side, rather than play this silly, false game of "fair and balanced". The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a fair or balanced conflict between equals -- it's a situation of brutal military occupation of Palestinian land by Israel that has gone on for the last 35 years in the case of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. So "bravo!" to a film that is finally courageous enough not to pretend that the Palestinians and Israelis are on an equal footing, or that good journalism means showing both sides as if they are the same. They aren't the same: One side is living under occupation, the other side is the occupier. The shame of it is that many Americans don't seem to know which is which.
Rating:
Summary: Insider's look
Review: The director of this film may be the ultimate outsider "insider" -- an American filmmaker showing scenes inside the Gaza Strip that look like he'd been living there for years. Director's commentary on the DVD is a good addition, fills in a lot of question holes. I have watched this DVD about 5 times with friends and it's still having an impact on me. It's uncensored -- so for the faint of heart might be a little bit tough to watch: a kid is shown blown to pieces in one scene and there's a bunch of gunshot wounds, etc. Not for little children. But a valuable document of what the Gaza Strip looks like / feels like. A horrible, terrifying, very good documentary.
Rating:
Summary: Not Fair and Balance
Review: One sided view only, not fair and balanced. In the eyes of the behoden only. It may have been an outstanding book if he had reported the other side which lead up to this condition. Was it another "staged" event. Another "fake funeral"?
Rating:
Summary: One of the best films on this subject
Review: This is a truely excellent documentary -- it holds its own as an example of the documentary form, in addition to being one of the best films I have seen about the Middle East conflict. I was expecting an ordinary style documentary like the ones on BBC or PBS, with a scripted narration in the background explaining everything. Instead, this film tells the story through the voices of the characters. The camera moves around the Gaza Strip like some kind of wandering disembodied eye, looking over peoples' shoulders into their lives. Longley must be the Invisible Man to get the footage he has. ...If you're really interested in getting an inside view of Palestinian life in the Occupied Territories, this film is a powerful and essential addition to your collection. This film is a little hard to find on video, even though it's had great major media reviews including in the NYT / Village Voice / Variety and been shown all over, including in the Human Rights Watch traveling film festival, which is where I saw it. Glad to see Amazon has it.
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